League of Legends 2018 Mid-Season Invitational Breakdown

Here it is folks! The first international League of Legends (LoL) tournament is underway and tensions are high. The Mid-Season Invitational (MSI 2018) tournament is the first time all regions from the competitive LoL leagues will come face to face.

With the recent franchising of teams, and the backing of some bottomless pockets, this spectacle will have all types of investors and organizations watching with anticipation. Here are a few firms and organizations that have a hand in directly funding teams: Detroit Venture Partners firm, Ludlow Ventures firm, Cleveland Cavaliers, Houston Rockets, Golden State Warriors and individuals like NBA all-star Rick Fox.

While these heavy hitters are already players in the franchising of North American LoL teams, this tournament will have many potential investors tuning in to determine whether or not a future investment is a golden opportunity. Teams will not only be playing for the pride and joy of winning a championship, but for the possibility of earning huge checks and attracting potential investment money into the scene.

But first, what is MSI?

MSI is the first of two international tournaments held yearly for League of Legends. It carries huge seeding implications for the final tournament of the year, the 2018 World Championship. Riot Games owns 14 professional League of Legends regions around the world. Each region crowned the champion at the end of their first competitive split (Spring). These 14 teams will face each other to determine which players are the world’s best.

The respective regional champions:

Brazil – KaBum! e-Sports

China – Royal Never Give Up

Commonwealth of Independent States – Gambit Esports

Europe – Fnatic

Japan – PENTAGRAM

Korea – Kingzone DragonX

Latin America – North – Rainbow7

Latin America – South – Kaos Latin Gamers

North America – Team Liquid

Oceania – Dire Wolves

Southeast Asia – Ascension Gaming

Vietnam – EVOS Esports

Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau – Flash Wolves

Turkey – BAUSuperMassive

When & where?

Play-In Stage

Round 1 Dates: May 3 – May 6

Round 2 Dates: May 8 – May 9

Location: EU LCS Studio in Berlin

Group Stage

Dates: May 10- May 15

Location: EU LCS Studio in Berlin

Knockout Stage

Dates: May 18 – May 20

Location: Zénith Paris – La Villette in Paris, France

What’s in for the pros?

Besides bragging rights, medals, and the title of world champion, teams are looking at a big payday if they progress later into the tournament. A guaranteed prize pool of $250,000, with 25% of the total sales from the Conqueror Varus and ward skins being added into the pool. The estimation among League of Legends insiders has the total at $1 million.

The prize pool payouts are broken down based on position placed.

1st: 38.5% (~$385,000)

2nd: 19.5% (~$195,000)

3rd/4th: 9.75% (~$97,500)

5th/6th: 5% (~$50,000)

7th/8th: 2.5% (~$25,000)

9th/10th: 1.5% (~$15,000)

11th/12th: 1.25% (~$12,500)

13th/14th: 1% (~$10,000)

These numbers are contingent based on the number of sales the 2018 Conqueror skins make. However, the teams also receive additional compensation for each of their in-game team emotes sold. 30% of those sales will go straight to team. Team emotes are in-game insignia that can be purchased to rep your favorite team’s logo during casual/ranked games.

MSI is broken down into three stages of play; the Play-In Stage, Group Stage, and Knockout Stage. The fun is just beginning. As the tournament heats up, we’ll continue to discuss the performance of teams during the Play-In Stage. Only 10 out of the 14 regions are going head-to-head during the Play-In Stage. The remaining four regions (Europe, China, Korea, and North America) are given a BYE and will start to play in the Group Stage. What two teams will survive the brutal Play-In Stage? Stay tuned and find out!